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**Special Announcement**
Next Thursday, April 18th at 10AM, Broad + Liberty will host a Zoom webinar titled "Chaos and Crisis: Behind the Walls of the George W. Hill Correctional Facility," featuring Chief Investigative Reporter Todd Shepherd and Wally Nunn, former Chairman of the Delaware County Council and Jail Oversight Board.
Since the successful deprivatization effort culminated in a transition to county management in 2022, the George W. Hill Correctional Facility has faced unprecedented challenges, highlighted by a marked increase in violence, a record number of inmate deaths including multiple inmate suicides, severe understaffing, and ongoing cost overruns. These issues have culminated in a security and humanitarian crisis that demands immediate public attention and action by public officials.
This webinar is targeted at concerned citizens, community leaders, policymakers, and activists, urging a collective push for transparency and reform in the management of the county's correctional facility. It will also delve into the broader debate about prisons, profit motive, and the public good.
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By Beth Ann Rosica
“The Perkiomen Valley School District board of directors voted unanimously Monday to enact Policy 109 that prohibits ‘depictions, representations, in whatever form, of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sadomasochistic abuse…. when they meet the criteria of harmful to minors.’”
According to Superintendent Dr. Barbara Russell, Gender Queer — one of the most debated library books in the country — was removed from the district’s online catalog for not conforming to the new policy. Gender Queer is an autobiographical graphic novel about a young woman’s gender confusion that contains explicit drawings of sexual acts.”
Why It Matters. “Former President Jason Saylor, a Republican, asked the superintendent and current board President Laura White, a Democrat, why Gender Queer was removed from the library before the new policy was enacted. When the question was not immediately answered, he pressed to understand whether his email asking why the book was in the online library collection was the impetus for the removal.
The superintendent eventually responded that the book was ultimately removed because it did not meet the criteria in the new policy. She further acknowledged that even though the new policy was not yet approved, the librarians now have a ‘hyper awareness’ of the situation and anticipated that the policy would be adopted. She added, ‘the librarian does not want that book in the collection.’”
Quotable. Former board member and President, Kim Mares, in the audience, said, “I totally agree that we should have a diverse library. I just can’t support at all sexually explicit materials, whether — it doesn’t matter what the interaction is, heterosexual or homosexual. It’s the sexually explicit part that is disturbing.”
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By Thom Nickels
“In any event, Henry Hope Reed would have been proud of the ICAA gathering, especially since his book went unread and unnoticed throughout the 1960s and 70s when modernism in architecture — and the destruction of most things considered ‘old’ — reigned supreme. As Leigh told the gathering of 30-plus people in attendance, ‘Reed’s work is getting some attention today, so the situation has changed for the better.’”
“When I spoke to Leigh, he mentioned that one of his pet projects was saving Confederate monuments. Leigh believes that saving Confederate monuments is just as important as saving historic buildings despite the influence of “woke” politics on many preservation societies.”
Why It Matters. “Today’s architectural students are not looking towards the classical world for inspiration. ‘To my eye,’ Holm says, ‘the dominant style is continuity. And this was not what we were taught in architectural school courses. From a modernist point of view, all the old buildings are artifacts from a culture that doesn’t exist anymore. All the books in architectural school are written from a modernist point of view.’”
Quotable. “He was a totally lovable human being. I don’t think there wasn’t anybody who didn’t like him — cab drivers, professors; he was charismatic, absolutely. But I think he was wrong. I think he took us down a path that led nowhere. And I think that’s one of the problems with modernism in general. It’s idealistic without any particular ideal.” –Alvin Holm on Louis Kahn
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5. What we're reading
Kensington has become a byword for government and societal failure in combating the epidemic of opioid addiction. This week in The Free Press, Olivia Reingold visits the shattered neighborhood and talks to some of the regular people just trying to survive there and examines the failure of the “harm reduction” movement.
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